The present invention relates generally to refrigerators and in particular to refrigerators having water dispensers in the door of the refrigerator.
Refrigerators having water dispensers in the door are well known, as are arrangements for permitting the reversibility of the door swing of the refrigerator having a water dispenser in the door. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,868,692 discloses a refrigerator with an in-door water dispenser in which the water is supplied through a top hinge connection with the refrigerator cabinet. In the disclosed arrangement, two conduits are provided from the dispenser to the two top corners of the door, and water is selectively provided through a tube located in one or the other of the conduits, depending on the arrangement of the door hinge. There is no disclosure of how the water is supplied to the top front of the cabinet, other than a single schematic side view in FIG. 2. Two sets of redundant wiring are provided in the door, to the two top corners, for powering the water dispenser. In order to change the swing of the door, the water tube in the door must be moved from one of the conduits to the other, and a reconnection at the water dispenser must be made.
It would be an improvement in the art if a water routing system were provided for a reversible door refrigerator having a water dispenser in which the door swing may be readily reversed while allowing for easy transfer of the water supply routing and hinge from one side of the door to the other side of the door.